How do you decide which bass to gig?

[thodrik]

It depends on the kind of music played/money available for strings. Low tunings generally mean I will use the Precision. The Sadowsky gets played at most gigs though, and when I have no money to new strings I try and save them and use the Precision for rehearsals and the like.

[sshorepunk]

my two jazzes all the time, fretted and fretless, got a stingray coming, so may start using that as well
I take a P Bass with me if another guitarist does a guest spot with us as we will play a song he wrote for ian brown and the bass is detuned a whole tone!

Tony

[harvey1-8]

I have 4 basses. 75% of the time it'll be my MIJ Jazz. The others get a look in from time to time. Played the P bass last night.

[Protium]

Will be giving the black P it's first outing at the next one I think.

[anthomp]

as may be noted in the for sale section
i have a few to choose from
but always, without exception
the Pedulla Rapturejj5
is the first bass picked up

really is home bass
also even though i do carry a spare ,i've never used one

[Donnyboy]

Varies a bit- but most times i go for my '83 squier precision - I 've had it since new & feel emotionally attached- also i don't feel guility about bashing it about !

[Bottle]

Having two basses in different tunings - guess it depends on my mood and the songs we're playing?

For the funk jam night, I have been taking my Ibby (set up in Standard tuning), and then anyone else can pick it up and play as well.

For church, had been taking my Squier tuned to D-standard (DGCF), with the Ibby as backup, but now I'm experimenting with a low A tuning, and I've lent my Ibby out to another player, so I'm down to one bass only! I'm starting to trawl through the second-hand ads looking for a cheap knockabout Jazz that I can keep in Standard tuning and also use as a platform for expansion later.

Kinda where I am at the moment. To answer another question that has come up - no, I'd stick with just one bass for the entire set, unlikely I would swap out a bass mid-set, unless there was a major issue with the first bass, hence my foray into down-tuning.

HTH, Ian

[mcgraham]

I only had one bass for 3-4 years (the Geddy), so it was always that one. Once I got the Wood&tronics Chronos, it was that one exclusively for a year. Then I got the Wood&tronics fretless Zoid. They each have their own sound and merits but means it's a bit difficult to choose between the two Wood&tronics basses. I have more fun playing the fretless and prefer the tone of the fretless on a personal artistic level - so greatly prefer to practice with this and would prefer to use it in the band 100% of the time; however, the fretted generally fits better with the band stuff I'm doing at the moment, I can also be a lot more adventurous with the fretted with improv - hence the fretted tends to get slightly more band time at present.

EDIT: OH! and everyone thinks the fretted [i]looks [/i]better, including the wife, and we all [i]know [/i]that aesthetics are what matter when picking an instrument

Edited September 20, 2010 by mcgraham

[Dave Vader]

Whichever 1 is in one piece at the time, out of the 5 or 6 I own (depending on what counts as a whole bass) there's usually only 2 I'm not working on. They go in boxes and come to the gig.

[Deep Thought]

The JJ, every time. I never want to play anything else. The Precision comes along for a quick changeover if I bust a string, but even in the scabbiest of pubs I can't resist playing the Shuker.

[the_skezz]

Always the Squier Jazz when playing with the band. Better tone that the Fender P or Ibanez, sticks out in the mix a bit better, and lighter and less expensive than the Fender, meaning I can jump around stage/practise without worrying so much about damaging it

[hillbilly deluxe]

Security blanket 5 string Jazz,does everything,and new fangled Precision for less rocky numbers.

[neepheid]

Can't see past the G&L for the moment, mostly because I love the neck. I used to use my Gibson G-3 all the time but the pearl dots on the maple board got me in trouble a couple of gigs back (yes, I know there are side dots, but that would be sensible, wouldn't it?) so I'm a bit iffy on it at the moment, but it'll come back to me when I stop having to look at the neck when I play I'm going to take my Epiphone Les Paul to a mostly acoustic gig I've got coming up because it has flats on it and I think that'll suit that gig better.

[Bilbo]

mmmm.... tough one.

[tauzero]

Antoniotsai 5-string for the blues covers band
Peavey 6-string for the rock and pop covers band
Warwick Thumb fretless for the ceilidh band (plus Ashbory and NS WAV-4)
Mazeti fretless 5-string for the originals band
Ashbory or fretless Thumb for ad hoc use at open mic nights

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='Bottle' post='961956' date='Sep 20 2010, 10:41 AM']To answer another question that has come up - no, I'd stick with just one bass for the entire set, unlikely I would swap out a bass mid-set, unless there was a major issue with the first bass[/quote]
I'm the same unless it's a really big gig and I take the upright bass as well as a bass guitar. However normally it's just a bass guitar [b]or[/b] the upright for most gig situations

[arthurhenry]

Almost always my '72 Tele, done about 650 gigs on it. For small, low volume gigs the Dano DC comes out sometimes.

Edited September 20, 2010 by arthurhenry

[jazzyvee]

If I'm doing sessions for other bands or singers, its usually my 5 string bass as the tracks are usually soul or Rnb with more bottom end. I'm a 4 string bassist at heart so for my own band we tend to play tracks that work well on 4 strings. I rarely ever take more than one bass to a gig.

Jazzyvee

[dougal]

Well for upright gigs I don't have a choice, but it's a running joke in my band that I [i]always[/i] turn up for the gig with this:



despite having 4 others to choose from.

Course I have to take the Ashbory when the wee man comes too...



The USA Saddo may get a look in on Thursday night.

[Stingray5]

For me, it's more a case of what [i]other[/i] bass to take as my Stingray5 has been my main go-to bass for the past 14 years.
If it's a function/cover band gig, I'll usually grab my Jazz as a 'backup' bass. Maybe play it for one set just so it doesn't sulk all the way home!
If it's something more substantial (Prog, recording, etc.), I'll usually add the Tune 6-string and a fretless.

[WalMan]

It was the Wal for 25 years - well it was all I had after the Shergolds went. That is now in semi retirement & comes to the prog band gigs (well gig so far , it's pretty part time)

For the main gig I had expected to yake just the fretted L2500 US, because it just sounds so good in the rock context, and that even after I got the fretless L2500 mainly for the prog gig again, but actually I love the fretles so much that for the rock gigs I take both L2500's and mainly play the fretted, but this weeks set have me changing to the fretless in the middle of the first set and I probably shan't bother to change back, even though life might be marginally easier.

It's a lined fretless and pretty easy to keep tight on the tuning

[lanark]

So who takes a spare bass to every gig?

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='lanark' post='963169' date='Sep 21 2010, 12:02 PM']So who takes a spare bass to every gig?[/quote]

Me, had too many things explode on me not to.

[hillbilly deluxe]

Me.

[simon1964]

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='963225' date='Sep 21 2010, 12:51 PM']Me.[/quote]

and me